Song / Chain Mode issues

Elektron Gear Analog Rytm
#1

Hi, I’m struggling to get either Song or Chain mode to work. The Rytm just loops the first pattern. I’ve gone through all the steps in the manual and from various youtube tutorials, but still can’t get it to work.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Chain Mode
#2

Did you enable it? Does the led above song/chain mode light up? Press chain/song if not :slight_smile:

#3

Yeah, it’s enabled. It worked fine last time I tried it a few weeks ago. Really confused why it wont work now. Are there any other system settings that might be affecting it?

#4

I’ve just checked and both song mode and chain mode work fine if I start a new project.

I have a much more developed project I’m trying to finish, but neither song mode or chain mode will work in that particular project.

Any ideas?

#5

Have the same issue here. Chain mode is light up, but it keeps looping the first pattern of the sequence. Don’t understand why…

#6

Same. What’s up?

#7

What OS are you guys running?

#8

Is it stuck on a pattern with a really long master length and no shorter chng parameter set?

#9

I’m trying to use the chain mode whilst the sequencer is running, as it says in the manual, it’s ideal for improvising live. But when I try to create a chain when it’s running it just retriggers the pattern from step 1 when I press FUNC+CHAIN, it doesn’t take me to the edit mode. A long press on CHAIN does but I can’t add patterns to the chain. Does anyone have this working?
RYTM Mk2, OS 1.45.

Thanks

#10

I had the same problem. The issue is in the “Direct Change” setting. You need to be on “Sequencial” mode (FUNC+BANK GROUP), then you turn on the chain mode and you just have to select the patterns you want to chains.

#11

It might be a bit confusing, but making defining or changing chains itself is not connected to the play modes (sequential/direct jump/temp jump) at all. You can have selected any playmode you want while defining or changing a chain.

  1. There is no dedicated “CHAIN MODE” screen, only the bottom white row displaying the song row and the selected/defined. You can access and navigate that row by holding “CHAIN MODE” down.

  2. CHAIN MODE has to be lit (on.) (Take care, if it is off, you might delete your chain by selecting a new one.)

  3. If CHAIN MODE is lit, press CHAIN MODE and keep pressing it until the end of the process

  4. Now use the ARROW KEYS to navigate, where you want the next pattern to go to.

  5. Now (still pressing “CHAIN MODE”, press BANK + TRIG to select the pattern you want to go to the chain. Pressing “NO” instead of BANK + TRIG will delete the selected or previous pattern, if none selected.

That’s the basic editing possibilities of a chain.

Anyhow, there is a much better way if you want something like song mode

Do use SONG MODE :wink:

Safer, with more overview, less confusion and pressing 3-4 buttons at the same time with hands and feet :smiley:

  1. FUNC+SONG MODE gives you access to your chains as well of course. You can save then many chains in each row and also change them there with more ease. Also while playing and despite song mode being off. You can also have just one chain per song and save them separately named, if you like.

  2. CHAIN MODE is basically just a “row player/looper” in the matrix sense. If Song mode is off and chain mode is on, you can select and play any row (chain) looped forever and still work on it in this view.

  3. The coolest thing is if you access your chains through SONG MODE that you can even define and save mutes here as an additional feature. They also work in chain mode, if you set them here.

The different play modes only affect when exactly and for how long a pattern is replaced in the chain.

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AR Bugs thread
Bug: Chain Mode not working correctly in OS1.46 BETA1
#12

You don’t need to hold down the chain button to make chains. You only need to hold it down while using the arrows to place the cursor before, on, or after the current pattern to be able to place or replace other patterns in the chain. After moving the cursor you don’t need to keep holding it.

There’s also quick chain mode.

#13

hey guys
Actually it’s only about PAGE Scale on the step sequncer
Function + Page (Scale) and then select NORMAL not ADV
With Normal Mode Chain and Song are running :wink:

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#14

As Koan says for some reason chains do not cycle to the next pattern when scale page setting for the active pattern is set to ‘advanced’. I am not sure if thats just how it works, if it says that in the manual, or if its a bug?

But if anyone else is having this problem where the chain mode or song mode is lit up (active) and its not cycling through the chain of patterns as you would expect, but is instead looping on the first pattern or stopping its cycle and looping at a ‘seemingly random’ pattern over and over, then I would recommend to:
1)make sure pattern playback is set to sequential, and
2)change the pattern scale to ‘normal’ mode rather than advanced mode.

What is strange is I am not sure whether the chains are supposed to work in advanced mode or not. I don’t see why it wouldn’t just play to the longest length and switch to the next pattern, but I guess if you have poly rhythms between tracks it could be tricky for the machine to do this? Or maybe its a bug? No idea on that front. But I will say if you ever encounter this issue and dont know whats going on it can be really frustrating so hope this helps someone.

I had this problem on the analog four mkII OS 1.51B

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#15

On my Rytm, Chains work in advanced mode, so long as LEN is not set to INF. elektron customer services tell me that this is by design (and also that the manuals are wrong when they suggest that CHNG/CH.LEN work the same in manual and Chain mode - they don’t)

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